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ZMS-006 Zaku
The ZMS-006 ''Zaku'' is a mobile suit from Mobile Suit Gundam Alpha. The Zeon Empire's mainline mobile suit, it serves as both a symbol of the Empire's advance into the galaxy as well as the great bane of its enemies. Appearance Pretty much looks like your typical MS-06 Zaku II. Similar to the JC type, the cockpit is placed upon the centerline. Technology & Combat Characteristics Being the first of Zeon's mobile suit line, the Zaku presented a radical departure from the mobile suit design standards of the time. Rather than act as a mobile gun battery meant to fulfill most mission parameters at a generic level, the Zaku was designed around one explicit purpose: to fight other mobile suits. For this, a design emphasis was placed on mobility and close combat capability; this resulted in the Zaku being laden with powerful thrusters, giving it speed and maneuverability that far surpassed nearly all mobile suit types of the period. This design focus ended up being highly successful in battle, as Zakus could literally dance around enemy weapons fire while closing the distance and attacking unprotected flanks. In fact, this design ethic was so successful it would later become the new standard for mobile suits, as later units like the [[RGX-780 Gundam Unit Alpha|RGX-780 Gundam]] would also be built primarily around mobility. The Zaku's offensive capabilities were also made specifically to fight mobile suits; as opposed to then traditional "heavy" weapons like beam cannons and/or single shot beam rifles, the Zakus' weapons were designed to be light, precise and overwhelming, such that they could function with the Zaku's high mobility. Its main weapon is a beam machine gun, which could literally rain beams upon its target while the Zaku is performing high speed maneuvers, thereby saving its pilots the time of lining up singular shots. Supplementary armaments include a beam axe for melee combat (which its enemies had no counter against outside beam shields), a right shoulder mounted beam shield projector for defense, and six hip mounted missile tubes for back up weapons. As well, the Zaku could be equipped with an optional beam bazooka for anti-ship combat, as well as a whole line of additional weapon types. Perhaps more noteworthy than its mobility and weapons however, the Zaku would be the first mobile suit to use the Mono-Eye camera system, which (as the name suggested) placed a single "main" camera on an extended track in the Zaku's head, while secondary cameras were mounted around the mobile suit's body. Altogether, they gave the pilot excellent scope and visibility, which again ended up surpassing most other visual systems. Outside of that purpose however, the Mono-Eye also functioned as a psychological weapon, giving the Zaku the visage of a giant cyclopean monster; many a soldier had quivered under the gaze of a Mono-Eye, especially when it turns to focus in on a specific target. This secondary effect was considered just as lethal as the Zakus' performance and weaponry, such that Zeon engineers were quick to refit the Mono-Eye to emit a "flash" to further emphasize it. As another departure from standard design ethics, which is to create specialized units from a single base design, Zeonic (Zeon's primary weapons manufacturer and the Zaku's producer) made the Zaku to be a pure general purpose type that could be used in just about any assignment; as such there are no secondary production models of the Zaku. That being said however, a number of specialty custom units exist, as one of the privileges of Zeon commanders and ace pilots is virtual free reign in mobile suit customization, both personal (for aces) and unit wide (for commanders). Armaments *'Beam Machine Gun' :The Zaku's primary weapon. Essentially a huge expansion of the Federation's beam vulcan concept, the beam machine gun, as its name suggests, fires multiple "small" beams in controlled bursts as opposed to the single "large" beam of a standard beam rifle. As such, while each individual beam is less powerful than a full rifle shot, they are fired at such great rate that they can literally rain across targets. Combined with the built-in targeting system's great accuracy, Zakus can fire these machine guns while executing high speed maneuvers and still make precise hits. *'Beam Bazooka' :Though Zakus were primarily designed to fight other MS, the beam bazooka allows them to still function as "heavy" combatants. With power comparable to that of a Guncannons' shoulder beam cannons, the beam bazooka lacks the high firing rate of the Zaku's machine gun, but gives far greater power per shot, making it an effective weapon against heavily armored targets such as warships and fortresses. The tradeoff, however, is that the bazooka can expend its power in only a few shots, and the resulting recharge period can last up to several minutes. *'Beam Shield' :Taking another different approach from other mobile suit types, the Zaku's beam shield is actually is a solid shield equipped with a beam emitter. Normally it is mounted over the right shoulder, though it can be swapped for other equipment if necessary. Besides the obvious defensive power, the "solid shield" can also be used for ramming attacks. *'Beam Axe' :As the Zaku's maneuverability allowed it to close in on its target rather quickly, the designers of Zeonic felt that the Zaku should also be equipped with a melee weapon for such occasions (inadvertently opening up a whole new field of mobile suit warfare). Since their main opposition (the Guncannon) was heavily armored, the designers chose to make this weapon a battleaxe, a weapon ideal for breaking through heavy armor and defenses. By generating a small field of beam energy across its "edge", the resultant beam axe possessed great cutting power that was not only efficient against mobile suits, but warships as well. However, when the Federation and other nations started fielding mobile suits equipped with melee weapons of their own, Zaku pilots suddenly found themselves robbed of a key close combat advantage. *'Missile Launcher' :The Zaku's secondary weapon. Not unlike the beam vulcan for Federation mobile suits, the Zaku's hip mounted missile launchers were designed to give pilots back up measures against enemies, namely when their other weapons were either lost or recharging. Each missile is a guided high explosive device, which contain enough power to destroy a single mobile suit with a glancing blow (assuming the enemy unit can't raise its beam shield in time). System Features *'Mirage Colloid' : The Zaku is the first mobile weapon to use Zeon's patented Mirage Colloid technology. The stealth system functions by generating a field of colloid particles around its host Zaku, which in turn reflect light and sensor waves, effectively making the unit invisible to both sensors and the naked eye. However, the tradeoff is that the Mirage Colloid takes a massive amount of energy to utilize; once activated, the Zaku is unable to utilize its tactical systems, and its mobility is extremely hampered. As such, the Zaku is highly vulnerable when the system is active, thus pilots must take care to utilize it sparingly, and well outside combat. History Rolled out in GC 372, the Zaku would become the Zeon Empire's mainstay mobile suit not long after, serving for at least five years before the coming of the First Galactic War. Immediately after the war's beginning the Zaku's superiority would become established; no other mobile suit could match its performance, while warships were equally vulnerable to its power. Entire fleets would end up being wiped away by Zakus alone, causing the Federation and other star nations to take heavy losses from the onset of the war. From this, leading galactic media groups would come to refer to the period as the Zeon Scourge. However, in spite of the Zaku's superiority, its adversaries, particularly the Federation, were not entirely outmatched. The Federal Forces and others still had several ace pilots and commanders who were both capable of fighting Zakus with inferior machines and coordinating their forces against Zaku formations, while one particular ship type, the Federation's Lexington-class fleetcarrier, was capable of command and controlling an entire fleet's worth of mobile suit forces, thereby all but nullifying the Zaku's performance advantage. On the other hand, Zeon also possessed several gifted mobile suit pilots, each capable of wiping out entire squadrons singlehandedly, as well as equally gifted tacticians and commanders that could make the most of the Zaku's power en mass. As a result, Zeon would make great headway from the beginning of the war, but at the same time would be unable to decisively defeat its stronger enemies early on. Eventually however, the Zaku's battlefield dominance would come to an end when its adversaries began fielding more powerful mobile suits. The first of which, the Earth Federation's Gundam, would even make its first mark in history by singlehandedly destroying three Zakus at once. In spite of this however, the Zaku would be produced and fielded all the way to the war's end, serving alongside the likes of the [[ZMS-009 Dom|ZMS-009 Dom]] and ZMS-014 Gelgoog in the (later) defense of the Empire from the Inner Power offensive. Outside of Zeon, the Zaku's notoriety had ensured outlying factions would procure the mobile suit, usually through capture or defection, for their own means. For example, Elijah Kiel would retain his Zaku upon his defecting to the mercenary unit Serpent Tail, while Gym Ghingham would also outfit his mercenary forces with Zakus.